Slavery In The 1500s

The introduction of slavery into British North America and the Atlantic slave trade began in the 1500s, and was marked by unusual cruelty and a distinct racial component. The Atlantic Slave Trade benefited the British economy as African slaves provided cheap, strong labor. Slavery occurred before the 1500s in African countries. African countries saw the slave trade in terms of business and not race. The African sellers sold slaves to the British, who transported them to the North American colonies (“Black Atlantic,” Blackboard). In the 1500s, British North America experienced a growing need for labor because of the growing cotton and tobacco industries, and Native Americans were not a sufficient workforce because they did not have the immunity to European diseases that Africans did (Yawp, Chapter 3). African slaves, who were initially war prisoners, outlaws, people who could not pay off their debts, etc., but later kidnapped civilians, provided a ready supply of
The slaves fought for their idea of their own independence, but ultimately, neither side wanted slaves to have equal status in society, as shown in the case of Jehu Grant and in the writings of the Constitution. Grant fought with the American army for 10 months, then was returned to his master who received compensation for Grant’s service (“Soldiers’ Memories,” “War for Independence,” Blackboard). In the Constitution, Article 1, Section 2, African-Americans are listed as three-fifths of a person (“Making the Constitution,” Blackboard). The African Americans fought to be free and to be on equal footing with the whites, not to be considered less human than them. The evolution of American slavery, from the 1500s to the 1800s, allowed for masters to exert stricter control over Africans as a way to increase the stability and success of the North American